Evaluating a New Relative Phenological Correction and the Effect of Sentinel-Based Earth Engine Compositing Approaches to Map Fire Severity and Burned Area

The remote sensing of fire severity and burned area is fundamental in the evaluation of fire impacts. The current study aimed to: (i) compare Sentinel-2 (S2) spectral indices to predict field-observed fire severity in Durango, Mexico; (ii) evaluate the effect of the compositing period (1 or 3 months), techniques (average or minimum), and phenological correction (constant offset, c, against a novel relative phenological correction, rc) on fire severity mapping, and (iii) determine fire perimeter accuracy. The Relative Burn Ratio (RBR), using S2 bands 8a and 12, provided the best correspondence with field-based fire severity (FBS). One-month rc minimum composites showed the highest correspondence with FBS (R2 = 0.83). The decrease in R2 using 3 months rather than 1 month was ≥0.05 (0.05–0.15) for c composites and